Monday, August 27, 2012

Sleepwalk
with Me is comedian Mike Birbiglia’s coming of age story: it’s about how he got
his start as a comedian, and was forced to face his fears of marriage and
commitment.An essential element of that
story is a sleepwalking problem Birbiglia experienced that went from bizarre to
dangerous, and forced him to confront questions about his future.

Mike
Birbiglia is a New York-based comic who specializes in monologues.He’s gone from a background in standup comedy
to a specialty in storytelling, with stories told at New York’s The Moth and
other events.Sleepwalk With Me began as
a one-man show, and then it was adapted for the screen by him, This American
Life’s Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia and Seth Barrish.Birbiglia also serves as producer, director
and star.

The
film is told in flashbacks, with Birbiglia telling it to the audience from the
driver’s seat of his car, while driving to a comedy club in the future.

Though
the film is based on his story, there are some deviations.(In one Q&A, Birbiglia said the film is
“70% autobiographical.”)Recognizing
that, Birbiglia plays a very close version of himself named Matt Pandamiglio.

Matt
is a bartender who wants to be a comedian. He’s been together for 8 years with
Abby (Lauren Ambrose) a beautiful voice therapist who he’s dated since
college.The two get along great, but
Matt has no interest in marriage.That
becomes a problem when his younger sister gets hitched leading the rest of his
family to expect Matt to “batter up”, as one relative jokes. Worst is his
father (James Rebhorn) who digs into him regularly about his lack of progress with Abby and his career aspirations.

Meanwhile,
Matt is tired of being discouraged around comedy while being pushed to get
closer to Abby.At one point, someone tries to encourage him by saying Abby's the best thing that ever happened to
him, and he says, “See that’s just
it.I feel like everyone is telling me
that the best thing about my life is my girlfriend.”For Matt, it’s a sign of a lack of personal
achievement: he wants his career to be his biggest achievement.

Then
Matt happens to meet a low-grade talent agent who begins setting him up with
small gigs, in small colleges and comedy clubs in small upstate towns in New
York.Suddenly, he’s getting checks for
his work for the first time, and living the young comic’s dream of anonymous
motels, late-night pizza and sleepovers with other comedians.At the same time, though, he grows apart from
Abby.

The
distance becomes worse when Matt begins throwing jokes about Abby into his set,
and doesn’t tell her about it.As his
ambition grows, so too does the distance from her, to the point that at his
sister’s wedding, Matt hesitates to invite Abby to join the family photo.

Throughout,
Matt begins to experience an increasingly outrageous sleepwalking problem,
acting out his dreams.The dreams are
hilariously bizarre visions of jackals, guided missiles, “pizza neck pillows”
and the “Dustbuster Olympics.”However,
as the dreams lead Mike from stumbling around his bed to chaotic sprints
through motel hallways, it becomes obvious he’s got some demons to face,
including his problems with commitment.

The
film is as sweet as it is funny.It’s
refreshing to see a movie about comedians that doesn’t immediately go for the
lewd or crass: unlike other big names (Louis C.K., Judd Apatow for two) who go
for bathroom or sex humor when they want to leaven the deeper moments,
Birbiglia’s brand of comedy is in a kinder gentler zone.He’s the kind of guy who talks about his
experience of first love as like “eating pizza-flavored ice cream,” and who invites
a girl to go to church with him just to throw her off after multiple
rejections.

He’s
a pleasure to watch on screen, a mixture of almost childlike innocence, slapstick
and deadpan humor.His jaw slightly
agape and his eyes wide open, he often looks as if someone has just slapped him
awake. Though more gifted at comedy than drama, he also manages to get across a
wide range of emotions even with limited tools.

Along
with Birbiglia, the rest of the film’s cast is great, especially James Rebhorn
and Carol Kane as Matt’s parents and Lauren Ambrose as Abby.Ambrose paints Abby as a loving, patient
young woman who loves her boyfriend enough to try to make it work.Abby’s not pathetic or empty-headed, but she
is willing, out of hope and generosity, to delude herself long enough to see if
things might work out.

Sleepwalk
With Me would be a stronger film if Birbiglia really addressed the cost of
using our lives, and our loved ones, for “material”: Matt becomes a hit when he
begins riffing on his real life, just as Birbiglia did in real life.(The film itself is an example of profiting
from that.)

By
necessity, though, it creates a distance between the performers and the people
in their lives.In my own case, as I
begin trying to do standup, I’m mining personal stories that I feel comfortable
sharing with strangers, but not friends or family.What does that mean when we’re able to be our
truest selves only in the presence of strangers?And do we owe anything to the people who we
use for comic relief?

Had
Birbiglia taken on that question -- if his family or Abby had confronted him about
profiting from their stories, Sleepwalk With Me would have been 100 percent
better and more profound.As it is,
Birbiglia doesn’t really pay any price for choosing to use his life for
material, besides the danger that comes with his dreams.

I
hope Birbiglia does film again.In an
age where so many comedies either go for vulgarity or cutting mean satire,
Birbiglia’s innocent gentle charm makes him easily watchable on screen.It would be great to have more tales from him:
I hope the next ones delve even deeper.

About Me

In college, I read the phrase:
"Shine a light on what is to be praised and on what is to be criticized." It spoke to me as both simple and profound, and it became the motto for my career.
I'm both an inquisitive and extroverted guy, so being a journalist is a good fit.
When I'm out on the streets doing interviews, I feel like it's the work I'm meant for.
I'm most drawn to covering the arts, especially movies and music, and local news on issues such as immigration, health, poverty, religion, labor and the economy.